Private-topic disclosure via unchecked group enrollment
Published Mar 19, 2026 · Updated Mar 19, 2026
Incorrect authorization in Discourse before 2026.3.0-latest.1, 2026.2.1, and 2026.1.2 allows remote authenticated users to join restricted groups. Policy post processing stored the group named by add-users-to-group without verifying that the policy post author could manage it. A user with policy creation permission can accept the policy, gain unauthorized group membership, and read private topics available to that group.
Summary
What happened
Incorrect authorization in Discourse before 2026.3.0-latest.1, 2026.2.1, and 2026.1.2 allows remote authenticated users to join restricted groups. Policy post processing stored the group named by add-users-to-group without verifying that the policy post author could manage it. A user with policy creation permission can accept the policy, gain unauthorized group membership, and read private topics available to that group.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-28282
- Published
- Mar 19, 2026
- Updated
- Mar 19, 2026
- Vendor
- Discourse
- Product
- Discourse
- Classifications
- CWE-863, T1098
- Attack vector
- network
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Mar 19, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Mar 19, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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Is a vulnerable build present?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=>= 2026.1.0-latest, < 2026.1.2
- Affected versionversion=>= 2026.2.0-latest, < 2026.2.1
- Affected versionversion== 2026.3.0-latest
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.
Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.
Public exploit references
No public exploit references are available in this record.
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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